The Bible is the best of books and I wish it were in the hands of everyone. It is indispensable to the safety and permanence of our institutions. . . . Especially should the Bible be placed in the hands of the young. It is the best school book in the world. . . . I would that all of our people were brought up under the influence of that Holy Book.
– President Zachery Taylor
To the free and universal reading of the Bible . . . men [are] much indebted for right views of civil liberty. The Bible is . . . a book which teaches man his own individual responsibility, his own dignity, and his equality with his fellow man.
– Daniel Webster
The Bible is a book worth more than all the other books that were ever printed.
– Patrick Henry
The Bible is the best of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your life by its precepts.
– John Jay
Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited . . . What a Utopia! – What a paradise would this region be!
– John Adams
For my birthday, I asked my husband to have my Bible repaired. I have used the same leather volume for almost 20 years. It was my first “big purchase,” bought with baby-sitting money and carefully saved allowance. I had its burgundy cover stamped with my full maiden name, and I still remember the pride that swelled within me as I carried it ceremoniously from the bookstore.
I carried it just as proudly to revival meetings, college Bible classes, and church services. I made “Greek notes” in its margins; wrote dates of spiritual decisions near painfully learned passages; and jotted sermon notes in the blank pages in front and back. As the years passed, I had births, then painful deaths, to record in the family pages. My children’s salvations and baptisms are written therein as well as in the Book of Life.
The binding of my precious Bible is completely shot. Some of the concordance is held together by faith. Every time I leave the house, I make sure which epistles are canonized. Every time a child breathes on my precious book, I gasp in horror. When the Baby leaned over my lap to look in wonder at a highlighted page last month, he tore the beloved ribbon from the worn binding completely off and I cried in pain.
But soon all will be right again. My most beloved volume is at the “Bible Hospital” getting an operation. My birthday wish came true! My beloved husband sought out the very best book-binder in the metroplex and assures me my treasure will be restored just as I wish. The cover can be kept, just as I wanted, and a new binding put in. I believe the canon will remain as it was in the 1980s. I can hardly wait until I can hold it again in February, when the surgery is complete.
Until then, I am using my second favorite book in the world – my mother’s Bible. It is the same edition as the one I purchased, because I had purposefully sought out a Bible just like my Mom’s when I bought mine so long ago. When I hold her Bible, reading from her marginal notes, I see God again through her eyes and learn His Law from her lips. I feel like a little girl again, and I am sitting next to Mommy. I am reading her favorite verses and worshipping our Father with her.
What wonderful quotes from our past leaders!
I wrote a little bit about my own Bible on my blog not long ago, and how much I love it and the words within it. There is health, love, and safety there, like no other place.
How are you feeling these days?
I got your text message, did you get mine? I hope you are enjoying your beautiful new bowls.
Hope to hear from you soon. Maybe you can visit my blog again sometime?